Google has started to use its popular Chrome browser to try to sell Chromebooks for the Christmas period.

The simple adverts have been showing up at the top of the Google Chrome homepage as Google tries to push the Chrome OS-fuelled notebooks.

Currently only Acer and Samsung have made Chromebooks, with the latter far and away the dominant manufacturer.

Simplicity

Although the notebooks have won praise for simplicity and the speed in which a user can be up and running, the offline features remain a major sticking point as TechRadar’s Samsung Chromebook review suggests.

A pop-up shop in a PC World and Currys superstore in London’s Tottenham Court Road garnered a nice bit of publicity, but Chromebooks cannot be accused of being over-hyped since their launch.

In truth, as offline functionality is added to Chrome OS, it becomes a more viable alternative to Windows, although key products like Google Docs’ usefulness without a connection are still severely limited.

Google’s Chrome browser is going from strength to strength, however, and with the apps becoming more prominent within it, and the decision to advertise Chromebooks, there may be light at the end of the tunnel for those who believe that the potential of a cloud-based computer strategy is high.

But can Chromebooks come good? Find out what we think in our video below: